Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday defended his letter to Karnataka BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa over the contentious Mahadayi water dispute controversy, saying the communication was perfectly within the ambit of law and in the best interests of Goa.
Parrikar, who addressed a press conference at the State secretariat on Thursday, also lambasted the media for creating unnecessary hype over a non-issue.
“The letter is so clear. I do not see any reason for someone to step beyond the letter. It is without prejudice. It only says that we are ready to talk for reasonable quantum, within the parameters of the Tribunal,” Parrikar said, while also accusing the Congress of trying to sabotage the coastal state’s interest in the past over the Mahadayi inter-State water dispute.
Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra are currently battling a dispute over the controversial Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across the waters of the Mhadei river at a central tribunal.
Mahadayi also known as the Mandovi river, is known as a lifeline in the northern parts of the State. It originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji in Goa, while briefly flowing through the territory of Maharashtra.
While the river runs 28.8 km in Karnataka, it is 81.2 km in length in the state Goa.
Karnataka also aims to build seven dams at various points along the river, aimed with an objective to divert the flow into what it claims is the water-starved Malaprabha basin in North Karnataka. The state has demanded that Goa should allow the transfer of over seven TMC water to tide over its irrigation and drinking water needs.
Parrikar’s clarification on Thursday, comes a day after unrest in Karnataka, over the issue which was triggered by the letter written by Parrikar to Yeddyurappa, a lingayat community leader who is expected to lead the BJP’s poll campaign in North Karnataka next year, when the state goes to poll.
Parrikar in his letter last week, had offered to consider the Southern state’s demand for “drinking water” on “humanitarian grounds”, triggered controversy in Karnataka, with Congress and BJP leaders accusing each other of trying to mishandling the crisis. Farmers in Karnataka also staged a protest outside Yeddyurappa’s residence on Thursday.
Goa’s Water Resources minister Vinod Palienkar had also called the communication to Yeddyurappa as a “political stunt”.
On Thursday however, Parrikar accused the media of trying to muddy waters vis a vis the issue and said that NGOs who are commenting on the issue and media persons reporting extensively on the issue would be listed as witnesses, for the purpose of deposition before the Mhadei Inter-state Water Tribunal.
“Whatever you have published, now I know so many reporters are experts. I now know so many NGOs are experts. So now I am listing based on that. I will give it to Nadkarni (Additional Solicitor General Atmaram Nadkarni) and whenever we need a witness, this expert knowledge about Mhadei will be used,” Parrikar said.